1.7. Managing Data Using the ncat utility

The ncat networking utility replaces netcat in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. ncat is a reliable back-end tool that provides network connectivity to other applications and users. It reads and writes data across the network from the command line, and uses Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) or Unix sockets for communication. ncat can deal with both IPv4 and IPv6, open connections, send packets, perform port scanning, and supports higher-level features such as SSL, and connection broker.

The nc command can also be entered as ncat, using the identical options. For more information about the ncat options, see the New networking utility (ncat) section in the Migration Planning Guide and the ncat(1) man page.

To install the ncat package, enter as root:

ncat -u -l 8080

~]$ ncat -u -l 8080

 ncat -l 8080 < inputfile

~]$  ncat -l 8080 < inputfile

 ncat -l 10.0.11.60 8080 > outputfile

~]$  ncat -l 10.0.11.60 8080 > outputfile

 ncat -l --proxy-type http localhost 8080

~]$  ncat -l --proxy-type http localhost 8080 

 ncat -z 10.0.11.60 80-90
    Connection to 192.168.0.1 80 port [tcp/http] succeeded!

~]$  ncat -z 10.0.11.60 80-90
    Connection to 192.168.0.1 80 port [tcp/http] succeeded!

ncat -e /bin/bash -k -l 8080 --ssl

~]$ ncat -e /bin/bash -k -l 8080 --ssl

ncat --ssl 10.0.11.60 8080

~]$ ncat --ssl 10.0.11.60 8080 

For more examples, see the ncat(1) man page.